Interview with William Duncan, January 29, 1992

Partial Transcript: This is January 29, 1992. This is an interview with William Gurney Duncan.

Segment Synopsis: William introduces himself and talks about his parents. Talks about his father working for Stearns, Barthell, and Worley, and the various positions he filled. Talks about his siblings and moving. Talks about where he went to high school and how he got there. William also describes the roads to the different company towns. He describes the one-room school he attended as a child. Talks about the school being used for other activities in the town.

Keywords: Stearns Company; bookkeepers; classrooms; coal; desks; education; employment; region; roads; school; school buses; stoves; teachers; transportation

Subjects: Children of coal miners; Coal miners; Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.); Relocation (Housing); Rural schools; School buildings

Partial Transcript: It sounds like Worley must've been a little bigger than Barthell.

Segment Synopsis: William describes the size difference between Worley and Barthell. He talks about the difference in coal quality and how that affected the available work for miners. He talks about what companies bought coal from Worley and Barthell. Talks about going to Barthell for ball games. Talks about continuing to play baseball as he got older.

Keywords: Boy Scouts; baseball; businesses; coal; coal trade; fields; industry; size; towns; works

Subjects: Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Coal--Composition; Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: How about basketball?

Segment Synopsis: William talks about his brother's basketball career. Talks about trying to play basketball in Worley without a gym. Talks about other games he played as a child and playing outdoors. William talks about people he knew in Barthell. He talks about the only girl he ever saw playing baseball. William talks about going to parties in Barthell and how long it took to get to Barthell from Worley.

Keywords: Betty Downs; Boy Scouts; activities; basketball; camping; children; entertainment; fishing; friends; fun; games; horseshoes; houses; hunting; parties; recreation; rivers; swinging bridges; youth

Subjects: Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.); Outdoor recreation.; Sports.

Partial Transcript: So you went to school in Worley, and then to high school at McCreary County. And then what happened after you graduated from high school?

Segment Synopsis: William talks about getting a job at the tipple in Worley after graduating from high school. Describes the responsibilities of his job. Talks about other jobs in the mines.

Keywords: cars; couplers; first jobs; jobs; railroads; slate; tipples; trains; trams

Subjects: Coal miners; Coal mines and mining.; Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: We were fortunate, we did have running water.

Segment Synopsis: William discusses how people in Worley got water for their homes. Talks about having hot water at home because his father was superintendent. Talks about what was typically inside the homes and how they were heated in the winter. Talks about visiting Worley in recent years and what remains.

Keywords: Bill Ledbetter; Blue Heron; bathhouses; coal stoves; ice box; insulation; plumbing; pumps; refrigerators; reservoir; rocks; water

Subjects: Company towns; Dwellings.; McCreary County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Did you ever hear much from your father or other people there about union activity or organizing or strikes or any of that sort of thing?

Segment Synopsis: William talks about his father having no involvement with union activity. Talks about the Stearns Company trying to keep peace. He talks about his uncle selling suits in Worley and describes the company store. He talks about the store's inventory coming by train.

Keywords: employees; miners; schedules; trains; transportation; unions

Subjects: Coal miners--Labor unions; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Company stores; Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.); Strikes and lockouts.

Partial Transcript: And then, you know, we had special occasions, now. Like Christmas, as a kid, every Christmas morning, uh, this train came down.

Segment Synopsis: William talks about how Worley celebrated Christmas and other holidays. Talks about the pros and cons of living in a company town. Talks about being sad when the last mine closed in Worley. Talks about a fatal mine accident in Worley and the men involved. Describes the more dangerous areas of Worley's mines. Talks about another accident that killed his friend. Talks about what safety measures the company took.

Keywords: 1953; Christmas; Fourth of July; candy; carnivals; celebrations; closing; coal; deaths; holidays; inspectors; mine accidents; safety; trains

Subjects: Coal mine accidents.; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Well do you remember how you heard about the mines closing? What you were doing that day or who told you?

Segment Synopsis: William talks about his wife telling him about Worley mines closing. Talks about how his family was impacted by the closing and finding work in Louisville. William talks about how he met his wife and the extended family they had in Worley.

Keywords: Arnold Ball; B.F. Goodrich Company; Louisville (Ky.); family; real estate; wives

Subjects: Coal miners; Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.); Relocation (Housing)

Partial Transcript: I'm gonna get out some of these pictures. And see, I think you'll enjoy some of these. I'm gonna go talk to Faye Phipps.

Segment Synopsis: The interviewer shows William old photographs of Barthell and identifies places in town. William talks about the living conditions of coal towns. He shares stories about people he knew while he views the pictures.

Keywords: Barthell (Ky.); Roaring Paunch Creek; letters; locations; memories; photos; towns

Subjects: Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Well did people ever build little boats and float down to Worley?

Segment Synopsis: William talks about taking a boat to Boy Scout Camp and getting water from a spring. He continues to view photographs of Barthell and is asked to identify some people. William talks about the shooting between Tom Vahles and Ellis Strunk.Talks about his father's relationship with Red Rose and Jonce Holt.

Keywords: Boy Scouts; Jonce Holt; Red Rose; Roaring Paunch Creek; boats; camp; fans; shootings; springs; superintendents; water

Subjects: Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Did you come down to this end of town very often? This is kind of the opposite end from the school, I guess.

Segment Synopsis: William talks about what direction he entered Barthell when he visited. He talks about the variations of housing styles among company towns. Talks about the rarity of photos from old coal towns. Talks about the foundations of houses.

Keywords: Red Marcum; cars; houses; mining camps; parking; schools; trains

Subjects: Company town architecture; Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Do you remember the names of any of the Stearns carpenters that actually built houses for people?

Segment Synopsis: William talks about the carpentry crew of the Stearns Company. Talks about hanging clothes in the Worley bathhouse. Talks about how mines were constructed. Describes the process of mining coal.

Keywords: Foster; Louis Hamblin; Stearns Coal & Lumber Company; bathhouses; buildings; carpenters; lumber; mines; sawmills

Subjects: Coal mines and mining.; Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Where did people get their hair cut when you were there?

Segment Synopsis: William talks about taking a train to Stearns to the movies and travel being hindered by winter weather. Talks about living in an isolated town. Discusses what newspapers circulated in Worley. Talks about popular books and mail order catalogs.

Keywords: Cincinnati Post; Montgomery Ward; Sears; Spiegel; barbers; books; isolation; magazines; mail; movies; newspapers; roads; winters

Subjects: Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Well, now, I think some of the houses in Barthell, the stilts were built up on little brick piers. 'Cause I've seen the remainder of piers. That's over on the other side of the creek.

Segment Synopsis: William talks about the differences in house foundations between company towns. Talks about hunting. Tells a story about acquiring a cow and selling its milk and selling vegetables from his garden. Talks more about playing baseball. William talks about a traveling salesmen that sold eggs.

Keywords: Henry Young; baseball; construction; cows; dogs; gardening; hunting; peddlers; pets; traveling salesmen; vegetables

Subjects: Company town architecture; Company towns; Dwellings.

Partial Transcript: Did your mother can vegetables?

Segment Synopsis: William talks about his mother canning food and making jelly. The interview is interrupted by a phone call. William talks about when his family ate dinner and when his father got home from the mines. Talks about packing his lunch for work. Talks about how he continues to enjoy gardening.

Keywords: blackberries; eating; food; jelly; lunch; lunches; meals; schedules; supper; vegetables; work

Subjects: Canning and preserving.; Coal miners; Coal mines and mining.; Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Well, speaking of berries, I just remembered, you mentioned blackberries at Worley and so have some of the people at Barthell.

Segment Synopsis: William talks about what berries grew wild in Worley. Talks about watching for snakes as a child, and tells a story about his wife getting bit by a snake during a visit to Worley. Talks about his interaction with the doctors in Worley.

Keywords: Dr. Flowers; Dr. Haley; blackberries; blueberries; childhood; doctors; frog legs; health; huckleberries; injuries; physicians; snakes

Subjects: Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Well I can't think of any more questions. Are there any stories or anything about life in, in, not just Barthell or Worley, but anything about the mines that you'd like to, to get on tape while we have the chance?

Segment Synopsis: William talks about the quality of merchandise in the company stores. Talks about how he enjoyed living in Worley and describes the nature of the people who lived there. Names different preachers in Worley. The interview is concluded.

Keywords: attitudes; changes; closeness; honesty; people; preachers; products; quartet; revivals; singing; unity

Subjects: Appalachians (People); Company stores; Company towns; McCreary County (Ky.)